FIG. 1 illustrates a virtualization system according to the related art.
A virtualization system is a system that creates a virtual machine through emulation of a computing device and enables the virtual machine to execute functions of a hardware device or to control the same. When a virtualization system is used, it may appear to the user that an application or operating system runs on the virtual machine, but the virtual machine identifies itself as an actual hardware device and operates as the actual hardware device.
Recently, utilization of virtualization systems has increased in environments where data centers, cloud computing devices, computer clusters, and enterprise-wide computers are needed.
In the related art, when a virtualization system is used, power management is performed by monitoring the amount of power consumed by hardware devices and controlling capacity of power or distribution thereof at the overall system level. As related-art virtualization systems are mainly applied to servers that do not have limitations on the usage or capacity of power, power management focuses more on efficient utilization of resources rather than reduction of power consumption.
Multiple operating systems or applications may be run in parallel in an embedded system based on a virtualization system. In such a case, as the amount of available power is limited, it is necessary to perform power management in consideration of efficient utilization of resources and reduction of current consumption.
Additionally, different operating systems or applications may perform power management according to different schemes, and hence it is necessary to develop a unified power management scheme.